Victims: Storm recovery is making us sick

Author:
Grace White

Published:
12:08 AM CST January 6, 2018

Updated:
12:08 AM CST January 6, 2018

HOUSTON - Two families on the same street came down with pneumonia after their homes flooded during Harvey. Now, Texas State Representative Carol Alvarado, who represents the area, is looking into what can be done to prevent more people from getting sick.

Ruby Young may have lost her house, but she didn't lose her spirit. Everything else though in her life, Harvey turned upside down. Days after the water was waist deep in her home, her husband died.

"I've been with him every day, we were like brother and sister, we never had a bad day," said Young.

Then, Ruby herself was hospitalized with pneumonia and she wasn't the only one. Right across the street, from her home off I-45 and Edgebrook, a 4-year-old boy got sick too.

"He got pneumonia, I took him to the hospital three different times," said Polo Guzman, his father.

Now he's seeing a specialist and doing ok, but this father still worries.

"A lot of people are sick, same kind of trouble, pneumonia, asthma," said Guzman.

"My concern is we will have a health crisis on our hands," said Rep. Alvarado.

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She's concerned more people still living in flooded-out homes while they're being repaired will get sick.

"I'm curious about the numbers that maybe on the number of respiratory illnesses that maybe on the rise because of the mold situation," said Alvarado.

We checked with Harris County and the number of flu cases are on the rise.

In 2016, 1,106 people came down with the flu. In 2017, 2,692 people got sick.

Keep in mind, the flu is not a reported disease, so the only numbers come from places like emergency rooms and schools.

Also, a county spokeswoman says flu season started earlier and it's hard to pinpoint which cases are Harvey related, but most doctors agree there is some correlation.

"When I got out of the hospital, I didn't know what to do," said Young.

When Disruptive Construction, a company out of San Antonio heard about Ruby's story, they donated a container; so she could live in her front yard and she didn't have to sleep in the home that could have been making her sick.

"God is working with me and people too, God sent people across my path to help me," said Young.